Born in the US to immigrant parents from Taiwan and raised in New Jersey, Li chased what she thought was the American Dream and toiled in finance on Wall Street and in Hong Kong before moving to Los Angeles to pursue her passion for filmmaking. She worked her way up from intern to producer on eight feature documentaries for HBO, Showtime, and other networks. The documentaries spanned diverse subjects such as Iceberg Slim, Sarah Palin, the Insane Clown Posse, 1930s female jazz instrumentalists, Tom Bradley, and the Academy short-listed true crime doc about a serial killer, TALES OF THE GRIM SLEEPER.

Throughout this time, Li wrote and directed her own narrative films, several of which have gone viral on Upworthy, Gizmodo, and Vimeo (Staff Pick). Festivals and showcases worldwide have curated her work, including LACMA Young Directors Night, SITGES, Comic-Con, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Slamdance, British Film Institute, Killer Films x Refinery 29’s Shatterbox, NY Fashion Week, Sci-Fi London, Philip K. Dick Film Fest, American Cinematheque, The Geekie Awards, and others. She now writes and directs narrative films, branded content, and commercials. Her commercial work is featured on Free the Bid and she’s on Easle’s directing roster. Select commercial clients include: Omaze, (RED), General Electric, and Call of Duty Endowment. Li has also sold scripts to Twentieth Century FOX and Super Deluxe. She just finished directing a dance film that will be part of a feature film starring Bobbi Jene Smith.

Li gravitates towards gritty drama and high concept sci-fi that examines the human condition. She recently channeled her experiences on Wall Street into KEPLER X-47, a short film about a woman forced to adjust to a new life in a human zoo exhibit on an alien planet. Li won the Mary Shelley Prize in an unanimous jury vote for her “original vision, rigorous world-building, and creative storytelling.” The film stars Bella Dayne (Netflix’s TROY, AMC’s HUMANS, and Showtime’s GUERRILLA).

FOX recently selected Li for their inaugural Filmmakers Lab that targeted studio feature directors. 25 directing fellows had the opportunity to pitch to write and direct a short film based on a FOX franchise. Li was one of four finalists, and FOX commissioned Li to write THE COLONY, a sci-fi short inspired by THE FLY.Li has also held directing fellowships with the AFI Directing Workshop for Women, Film Independent Project Involve, and Visual Communications Armed with a Camera.